Monday, December 31, 2012

It’s New Year’s Eve and the 2012 trout year has officially come to an end. I got out with a friend for a few hours on one of his local rivers. The day was filled with fluffy snow, ice, fast moving water, and casting to fish that weren’t around. Dressed in my wool union suit, wool sweater, wool gloves, bomber hat, and windproof jacket the weather was not a problem. It was in the low 30s with clear sunny skies. Generally I’ve found the fish don’t bite to well in the nice sunny winter days. I always have better luck during the overcast snowy days. To make a long story short we didn’t catch anything, but that’s ok. It was the first winter outing with my Tenkara rod and it was great. No iced up guides and no cold hands. I’m looking to make a few more winter trips so I can avoid a “winter skunk” so hopefully I can land one. Winter is notoriously tough trout fishing.

Monday, December 10, 2012

“WHATELY, Mass. (WWLP) - New efforts are underway in Franklin County to help improve conditions for brook trout in our area.

The project is designed to help the trout population in the area, and also help provide some valuable scientific information.

The Nature Conservancy of Massachusetts is behind the work, which is taking place on Conway Road in Whately. Underneath that street flows Mitchell Brook, which is a tributary to West Brook; a home to many native brook trout.

The project involves replacing an old pipe that allows the water to flow underneath the street. Instead of a metal bottom, the new pipe will have natural a cobble one.

Once everything is complete, the brook, and the wildlife in it, will be able to move more freely, as the pipe will mimic a much more natural water flow pattern.

This will also help scientists who have been studying the trout. The U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Forest Service have been monitoring brook trout population in Whately's West Brook since 1997. That is because this particular kind of fish is considered an indicator of ecosystem change.”

Saturday, December 8, 2012

“A giant buck has fallen in Central Massachusetts and it could be big enough to take the number one spot in the record books.

On November 14, Dan Daigle was hunting in his hometown of Rutland. It was just after 3 p.m. when Daigle began his ascent up the hemlock to his Lone Wolf hang-on 25 feet off the ground. The northeast wind would be perfect for this stand and carry his scent away from the direction he thought that the deer would approach.

Daigle is a scent freak and goes to great lengths to stay scent free—showering with scent free soap and wearing a carbon suit helped Daigle get an edge on the sharp nose of the whitetail.

While Daigle is a well-accomplished archer with several bucks in the 140s and 150s from his home state, the bowhunter admits, much of this hunt was luck.

In August, Daigle received exclusive permission to hunt a tract of private land. He set up trail cameras to see what was walking around the property and was pleasantly surprised when more than one shooter buck showed up--ironically, the buck Daigle killed was not one of the trail cam bucks.

After the first half hour of the afternoon hunt on November 14, Daigle reached for his grunt tube. The hunter gave out a short series of grunts followed by three doe bleats from a can call. There was no response. After another half hour, Daigle repeated his calling sequence and this time a giant buck aggressively approached the stand, breaking branches on his way in.

With the buck at 31 yards, Daigle patiently waited for the buck to change position from quartering towards to broadside. The buck closed the distance and was now 25 yards away, but a small branch blocked the buck’s vitals and Daigle patiently held off. At 20 yards Daigle had his chance and let out a doe bleat with his mouth to stop the buck. With his pin settled on the vitals, Daigle sent the G5 Montec on its way and double-lunged the brute.

As the buck ran off, Daigle watched diligently waiting for the buck do go down, but the deer disappeared out of sight before hitting the dirt. Daigle texted a hunting buddy who was a few hundred yards away to help with the search and it didn’t take long to find the arrow. The vanes of the arrow were bright red confirming that Daigle’s shot on the buck was good.

It was a short tracking job. The giant went down just 60 yards away. The hunters were in awe as they set eyes on the buck’s rack. The 201-pound bruiser carried 16 points and unofficially scores 198 2/8. The current record whitetail scores 193 3/8” and was taken in 2002 by hunter Kajetan Sovinski in Franklin County. Daigle’s giant will be the 10th Massachusetts buck scoring over the magical 170 mark.”

Friday, December 7, 2012

A few weeks ago I went fishing with Fly Fishing author and writer Tom Meade, who wanted to try his hand at Tenkara. He drove up from RI and we met at the Swift River. We fished for a couple hours even though mother nature was a little cruel to us. It was in the mid 30s, windy, and rainy. I showed him the casting motions and the theories behind Tenkara. He took to it very quickly, as expected. Unfortunately we weren’t able to land any fish that day, but we still had fun.

After we left the river we grabbed some food and swapped stories. It was easily one of the more enjoyable times I’ve gone fishing. These days Tom can be found on twitter @TomMeade2 or by picking up the Providence Journal. For a copy of his book, click here.

Recently Tom wrote about our time on the river. That can be seen by clicking here.

About Me

Hi, I’m Ben Libbey and I write the OutdoorsBen blog to help and show people the outdoors, namely Tenkara fishing, hiking, and canoeing. I started the blog in 2010 after one of the best fishing days a friend and I had. The whole goal of this blog is to share knowledge and introduce new people to the outdoors. If one person gets out and hikes or fishes because of this, then it’s a success. I was raised camping, hiking, and fishing. The earliest memories I have involve a tent or a fishing rod. If you have any questions or you want to setup a time to learn Tenkara feel free to email me at OutdoorsBen3@gmail.com